Session 15 - Telling the Library Story: Marketing and Advocacy

Marketing is defined by Webster's as "the process or technique of promoting, selling and distributing a product or service" and advocacy as "the process of defending or maintaining a cause."  These are things we do every day in our libraries, regardless of what we call it.  As funding dollars become more scarce and others now provide what have been typical library services (both in person and over the Internet), it becomes more and more critical that we know how to tell our libraries' stories to all the right people in all the right places.

Learning Objectives for Session 15:

• To understand the difference between marketing and advocacy 
• To understand the importance of the packaging of reports
• To be familiar with the Telling the Library Story toolkit

• To understand the following standards, as listed in In Service To Iowa:

1. Standards 53-55 (p. 19)

Assignments for class:

• Reading assignment

• Written assignment

• Additional reading and resources

• Web board discussion question